Development of PAM Control System Inspired by Biological Neural Circuit

Abstract

This paper indicates the development of control system for musculoskeletal robots driven by pneumatic artificial muscles. This system mimics the nervous system. The nervous system, especially spinal reflexes greatly contribute to the control of fast physical interactions without the influence of higher level control systems such as brain. Therefore, to reproduce human-like motions in musculoskeletal robots, it is necessary to imitate not only the human musculoskeletal system, but also the nervous system controlling spinal reflexes. To this end, sensors that measure and encode body movements similar to human proprioceptors are needed as the starting point for creating spinal reflexes. In this study, to produce spinal-like reflexes in musculoskeletal robots using a biomimetic approach, we developed the local control system inspired by nervous system. Using this system and a robot, we produce stretch reflex motion by human-like local feedback control.